If the 'attack' was Bio in nature...

We know AQ has quite a few brains on their payroll, so if the attack was bio in nature, couldn't one at least narrow down the target by ... ?

Looking at what bio-agents flourish in what type of climate.
Example: Anthrax. Does it survive longer in a dry environment (Texas), or would it do better in a more humid area (Chicago)?

Because if it's bio, I'm willing to bet AQ did their homework on this matter...

I think if somebody really wanted to hurt this nation it will do it with our drinking water, can you imaging something like that taking over the whole nation? Everybody getting sick and not enough hospitals to acomodate the sick.?

You're doing fine. Don't worry about the spelling.

Most americans have trouble with the only language the speak.

Pay the detractors no mind.............. or curse them out in your 1st language. That will put a bee in their bonnet 'fersure.

I live in Texas, most of the state's climate is humid. So are we safe from
an anthrax attack?

Good point, Motorhead. One has to take this sort of thing into account.

Of course, good ol' Al Qaeda are the ones that pulled a satire article entitled "How to Build a Nuclear Weapon" or something to that effect off of the Internet, and attempted to follow its (wholly jestful) guidelines, to no avail.

It takes a pretty good understanding of microbiology (or virology, or mycology, or what have you) to know under what conditions a biological weapon agent could best survive, and my money says that they won't go that deep into their studies.

Of course, if they do, there's one climate where no biological dispersal mechanism can readily reach-- into a plastic bubble

gmcnulty, thanks

That's why I am still a member in ATS, it is alot of interesting and smart people in here like you. I decided to do the spelling check in word perfect and then copy and paste, it takes time but I will not insult the linguistics or wanted be linguistics in this forums.

ms_Bhavn, anthrax can survive virtually anywhere. If it finds conditions not to its liking, it stays in its spore form . This acts like armour plating and enables it to last for tens of years. When it finds a host it "wakes up" and multiplies.
It is in the soil in most places where there are cattle or sheep.
Saying that, the kind of anthrax attack that most worry about is when it is aersolised and that is a very rare occurrence.



zero lift

I think there are some in AQ who would have done their homework enough to deploy bio weapons effectively. However, I don't think the point of such an attack would be a high death toll as much as it would be to make it high profile. If they released anthrax or another bio weapon in a smaller unpopulated area it could probably spread unchecked and unnoticed for a while infecting large numbers. However if they released it in a larger city, it might be detected and stopped sooner, but it would be a much bigger news story. I think that AQ considers the psychological impact of their attacks as much as the death toll.